Royal Mail reaches agreement with union

Royal Mail and its main trade union have reached an agreement over pensions, pay and working conditions, paving the way for the resolution of a long-running industrial conflict. The CWU had threatened the first nationwide walkout at Royal Mail since it was privatised in 2013, but London's High Court ordered the parties into meditation. The draft agreement will be considered by the CWU's postal executive committee next week, according to a joint statement signed by Jon Millidge, Royal Mail Group's human resources director and Terry Pullinger, CWU deputy general secretary. "Ratification of the final agreement will be subject to a ballot of CWU members and approval by the Royal Mail plc Board," the statement added. The Financial Times reported last week that Royal Mail made an offer to the government to write the regulations required to set up a new kind of pension fund, called a "Collective defined benefit" scheme, which the company and union have agreed upon.